Understanding how SMS marketing works
Similar to how emails work, you can communicate with your subscribers using SMS flows and campaigns. Here is a brief explanation on how both works:
1. Flows
Flows are automations that get sent out when an action is triggered. Just like with email, you can set up:
- Abandoned cart flows
- New customer flows
- Winback flows
- Welcome flows
- Upsells and cross-sells
- Shipping notifications
2. Campaigns
If you wish to share some news with your subscribers, a product launch, your latest sales event, or a simple update, you can send them a campaign. While in an email, your brand personality truly gets to shine through visuals and engaging text, in the world of mobile text marketing, you need to keep things short and sweet!
Busting the myth: Is it worth it?
The short answer: YES.
Time and time again, “providers” have seen massive ROI. Having the SMS infrastructure set up means this is running in the background of your business effortlessly, generating revenue while you sleep.
Due to the cheap SMS costs (about 1-2 cent), even if you send out campaigns or your flows are running to a large audience, the revenue generated makes up for it with nearly 800-1500% return on investment.
SMS etiquette: 5 best practices for SMS marketing
SMS mobile marketing has its own recommended rules and guidelines.
1. Respect the hours.
Make sure that you are aware of where the majority of your customers are located and plan your campaigns accordingly. No one wants to receive marketing messages on their phone at 2 AM, so try and schedule your campaigns at a time that fits most time zones.
You can also set quiet hours with certain “providers”, which won’t send out text messages to your customers in the time period you set (eg. from 8 PM to 9 AM)
2. Stay Compliant
Make sure you have a clear SMS opt-in where your customers can consent to receive marketing messages from you. There are multiple ways you can collect phone numbers (e.g through the checkout process in your online store, or subscribing through a popup/form), so with these opt in methods, you collect your phone numbers in a legal way.
3. Mention who you are
Always add your business name in the message, either at the beginning or somewhere throughout the text, as the customer otherwise might not know who you are.
4. Make it personal
With the help of the SMS apps, you can customize your messages. You can mention the subscriber’s name, what they ordered before, what country they live in, so with these variables the message can feel more personal rather than a generic one.
5. Make it easy to read
Don’t cram in text, try and add space between the sentences, and add a clear CTA so people know where and why to click. With text, you’re meant to keep it short and clear, so only write the essentials.
How we can help you? Providing SMS traffic, for more information contact us: info@fortis-tele.com
